


As it Falls Apart

by SweetDragonSeeker



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, F/M, Genecissnei, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, minor adult themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 15:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3330440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetDragonSeeker/pseuds/SweetDragonSeeker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back when everything was normal, before the world started falling apart, Cissnei slept better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Defect

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not have fallen in love with this pairing. More to come, though when or how much I know not.

Back when everything was normal, before the world started falling apart, Cissnei slept better. Back then she had something to keep the nightmares away.

**sss**

"Hmm?" Cissnei roused as the arm wrapped around her waist withdrew.

"I have to go." The arm's owner murmured the words beside her ear, his fingers skimming in a light caress over her hipbone before he drew away completely. The bed shifted as he sat up, settling his feet on the floor, and reached for his clothes. Cissnei rolled onto her other side, nestling into the warmth he'd left behind. The first rays of the morning sun crept through the blinds to dance across his hair and dapple his skin, glinting off his earring, and her gaze traced over the pale scars scattered over the fair skin of his back and shoulders as he jerked on his boots. Cissnei shifted, propping herself on an elbow as he stood, pulling on his coat and shrugging his shoulders to adjust the fit before reaching for his sabre.

"Don't get yourself killed." She murmured in a slightly teasing tone. He turned to look down at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. His response was cool and confident.

"I'll survive." He bent and ghosted a kiss against her shoulder, then her lips. "Go back to sleep."

She reached up as he pulled back, letting her fingers slide through the strands of his dark auburn hair as he straightened. He left without another word, sweeping out of the room in a swirl of red. Cissnei watched him go before rolling over and burying her face in his pillow.

**sss**

In the week it took Genesis to return from his mission, Cissnei slept badly. The night he returned, he woke her from the throes of a nightmare, pulling her out of the dark, bloody dream with a fierce kiss. There were no ghost kisses that night, no barely-there caresses; and the rest of the night she spent in a deep, dreamless sleep.

She didn't wake when he left the next morning, didn't hear the words he recited when he paused in the doorway. She didn't wake until the sun was streaming brightly through the blinds. She sat up slowly, brushing her hair out of her face, not surprised to find him gone, and stretched languidly, inhaling the scent of leather and mako clinging to the sheets. Then, sighing softly, she rose to dress for work.

When Cissnei reached the ShinRa building later that morning, the whole place was alive with news.

Genesis Rhapsodos, SOLDIER first class, had defected. He had never returned from his last mission.

The nightmare Cissnei had that night, and many nights after, was the worst she'd had in many weeks; and for the first time in a long time, she suffered through every one of them alone.


	2. Youngest of the Turks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her hand drops back to her side and she grimaces.
> 
> "How bad am I?"
> 
> "Some ribs. A leg. Your head."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter probably takes place in Deepground somewhere. And why is Elena there? Because I wanted her to be. *shrugs*

The youngest of the Turks is all slight curves barely softening sharp angles. Genesis can feel those angles as he lifts her shoulders up against his knees, cradling her like a broken doll. Her comrades believe her dead, killed in the collapse, but he can feel her heart beating steadily against her ribs, several of which are probably broken. Her leg is broken too, stretching out across the floor at an odd angle, and there's a bloody cut on her forehead. She makes a soft groaning sound when he moves her, managing to make it sound irritated as well as pained as she swims back to consciousness. He gives a wry smirk at the sound, watching as she blinks open brown eyes. She doesn't seem to notice him, however, until she attempts to sit up and has to collapse back against his knees with a hand clutching at her ribcage. Then her gaze flicks up to see who she's lying on, and her eyes find his face in the gloom.

"Genesis?"

"Hello Cissnei." This time, she sees the smirk flit across his face. "It's been a while."

"Mmm." Her hand moves from her ribs to her forehead, feeling along the cut. "I thought you were dead."

His smirk widens and she pulls her hand away from her head to examine the blood on her fingers before wiping them on the lapel of her suit. "Or dying," she adds.

"Not anymore." He tilts his head, letting the milky blue light filtering down through the rubble above catch on him.

The hand resting on her lapel lifts to touch his hair, threading down from roots to tips. She doesn't comment on the fact that it's auburn again, and not grey as it was the last time she saw him. She doesn't have to. Her hand drops back to her side and she grimaces.

"How bad am I?"

"Some ribs. A leg. Your head."

"Ahh." She mumbles, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath. Genesis shifts, slipping an arm beneath her shoulders and the other under her knees. Her eyes fly open, and she bites back a groan, fingers closing convulsively into a fist as he stands, lifting her with him. Her broken leg dangles awkwardly.

"Best not stay here."

"Uhh," she screws her eyes shut again and resists the urge to throw up. She's a Turk, for Ifrit's sake.

Genesis carries her through half-collapsed tunnels, turning sharp corners and murmuring under his breath. After of few minutes of his near-silent recitation, Cissnei hisses.

"Genesis. Shut up."

He chuckles, and she fells his chin brush the top of her head.

"You used to find it soothing."

She snorts, but lets her forehead fall against his shoulder, breathing in bitter mako and old leather. Somehow, the scent soothes her stomach a bit.

"That was before you were dead."

"Ah." He murmurs, and takes another sharp left. He kicks open a door and moves into the room beyond. It's remarkably undamaged, considering what's been done to the rest of the place. He lowers Cissnei to the bed in the corner and moves to dig through a chest of drawers beside the door. He can feel her gaze on his back.

"I have Cure 1." He turns, a glowing green orb held between thumb and forefinger. She looks away, hand moving to her ribs again. He mutters something unintelligible, and the pain fades, her leg straightening against the bed.

"Thank you." Her body relaxes and she hears him replace the materia, then walk slowly across the room toward her. He crouches next to the bed, boots squeaking. He's quoting _Loveless_ again under his breath, and she stares at the ceiling, listening to the practiced, even flow of his voice.

" _Even if the morrow is barren of promises…"_ his gloved hand brushes her hair back from her cheek, and she inhales a long breath, still staring straight up. He sighs, and a thumb traces a line across her cheek, pausing at the dark circle beneath one of her eyes. She turns her head to face him, and he quirks a slight smile as her eyes slip closed and she succumbs to her body's need for sleep. Cure 1 fixed the breaks, but it'll take time for her to regain her full strength. He leans forward and brushes a light kiss against the newly healed skin of her forehead. " _Nothing shall forestall my return."_

**_sss_ **

Cissnei wakes the next morning in her apartment, lying in her own bed with the covers draping around her shoulders. She sits up slowly, stiff but not sore, and brushes back her hair, staring at the cityscape sprawling outside her window. Her duvet is dusted lightly with black feathers. She picks one up, spinning it between her fingers, and glances back out the window at the dawn.

**sss**

"Cissnei!" Reno's hug when she walks into work later that day is over-enthusiastic, but not inappropriately long like it would be if she were Elena; he knows better. Where the blonde would become flustered and embarrassed, Cissnei'll grin and punch him in the gut. "You're not dead!"

"No thanks to you." She smirks, shoving him in the chest and absolving all three of her colleagues of guilt at the same time. Elena takes Reno's place then, bestowing Cissnei with a brief squeeze, and Rude nods, placing a hand fleetingly on her shoulder.

"So, what happened to you?" Reno demands as they head for the elevators, his arm slung around her shoulders. "How'd ya get out?"

Rude presses the 'up' button and all three look at her expectantly. She shrugs.

"You guys owe me a drink."

They laugh and ask no more.


End file.
